FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIAL

It‘s okay to lose people as long as
You don’t lose yourself in the process
No matter how tempting.

It’s okay to gain people as long as
You also gain yourself in the process
Inspite of how tempting
it is
to push aside your spiritual development
in order to chase after someone
who has gone outside
or to adjust to and enjoy someone
who has come inside.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE HURTING LOVE

The Love of God
Will hurt you -
Make no mistake about that -
In order to cure you.

Are you ready to grow?
To reap what you sow?
To be polished until you glow?
To go with the flow
Wherever God’s wind may blow?

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PAIN AND GAIN

Without the pain
My life would have been so empty,
My spirit’s real gain
Are the lessons and they are plenty.

It is really possible
To lose a person and become whole,
It is really possible
To lose the world and gain your soul.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SHAME

Don’t be ashamed
Of your feeling of shame
For your ability to feel ashamed
Protects you from coming to shame.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

FINDING VALUE

Separate yourself from things
In order to know the value of things
Go deep into things
In order to learn the true value in things

Separate yourself from people
In order to know the value of people
Come close to, go deep into, people
In order to see the true value in people

Metamorphose away from yourself
In order to know the value of yourself
Develop again into your true self
In order to feel the value in being yourself.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

BLACK IN

We Are the Same - Just as capable
Just as valuable - Just as intelligent
Just as resilient - Just as determined
To even out the score

And you cannot put me down
I have not yet had enough
I want some more
What are we waiting for?

Black does not belong to the back
But to the front and will come back
To the fore
Through the front Door.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

DIE HARD

All the things I thought would kill me,
Didn’t kill me.
But they sure did hurt…
They hurt like hell for a long time -
But they didn’t kill me.
They made me wiser, stronger and sadder;
But in the end I’m still me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

A PART OF YOU

Sometimes a part of you
Can live outside of you
And run away from you
And refuse to come back to you
And will ignore you
And will not recognise you
And will reject you
And will hurt you
And will avoid you

Because the reason why
It is living outside of you
Is in order to find itself
And fully become itself
Through struggle, experiencing and reflection
Uninfluenced by you
In order to one day be able
To complement you
And be complemented by you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PEOPLE NEVER COME BACK

People never come back
They move on to the new you
Or to their new perception of you
With or without you
And you move on to the new them
Or to your new perception of them
With or without them
But the old will never come back.

Tomorrow will come.
Those who try to cling on to the past
Lose their way and orientation very fast
Because Time never goes back.
Those who meet again do so in the future
As different people with a different Nature
Because only going forward takes you back
Home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SELF-RESTRAINT

Just because it’s available
Doesn’t mean you should take it;
Just because it’s achievable
Doesn’t mean you should make it;
Just because it’s vulnerable
Doesn’t mean you should break it;
Just because it’s uncomfortable
Doesn’t mean you should fake it;
Just because it’s unshakeable
Doesn’t mean you should shake it;
Just because it’s accessible
Doesn’t mean you should wake it;
Just because it’s expendable
Doesn’t mean you should stake it;
Just because it’s edible
Doesn’t mean you should bake it.

Some things you just leave as they are.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river